Some argue that one of art’s duties is to shake up power structures—secular, religious, and everything in between. Inevitably, those forces push back. Throughout the 20th century, religious groups wielded enough influence to try to curb the distribution of classic films they found offensive.

Classic Films and Blasphemy Controversy

10 The Life Of Brian

Monty Python’s tale of Brian, an ordinary citizen of Roman‑occupied Judea mistakenly hailed as the Messiah, ignited a firestorm when it hit UK screens. Michael Palin and John Cleese even faced a televised debate on BBC Two alongside Catholic journalist Malcolm Muggeridge and Anglican Bishop Mervyn Stockwood. After rewatching the exchange, Cleese remarked that he was “astonished… at how stupid the two members of the church were and how boring the debate became,” noting the lack of any genuine attempt at dialogue.

The American religious establishment reacted just as fiercely. The Catholic Archdiocese of New York condemned the movie as “a crime against religion which holds the person of Christ up to comic ridicule.” Jewish organizations—including the Rabbinical Alliance of America, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, and the Council of Syria and Near Eastern Sephardic Communities—joined the chorus, labeling the film “a vicious attack on Judaism and the Bible and a cruel mockery of Christian religious feelings as well.”

Despite the warnings, New York audiences flocked to the cinema. A young Mike Huckabee described the film in vivid terms, calling it “a blasphemy against the very name of Jesus Christ…” and warning that the Devil had moved in while God’s people moved out.

9 RoGoPaG

“RoGoPaG” (short for “Let’s Wash Our Brains”) stitched together four shorts, each directed by a European heavyweight: Roberto Rossellini, Jean‑Luc Godard, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Ugo Gregoretti. The title itself is a mash‑up of the directors’ surnames.

Pasolini’s segment, titled La ricotta, sparked the biggest uproar. It featured Orson Welles playing an American director crafting a film about the crucifixion, peppered with sacrilegious lines like “Get those crucified bastards out of here” to spotlight the degradation of religion in contemporary society.

While Pasolini intended to critique the hypocrisy of both church and state—focusing on a thief crucified beside Jesus—many of his opponents missed the nuance and accused him of blasphemy, declaring that “rarely has this tribunal seen such an irreverent derision of the Cross, of Christ, and of his Passion and Death.” He was tried, handed a four‑month suspended sentence under an old Fascist statute for “insulting the religion of the state,” later granted amnesty, but the anthology was banned in Italy.

8 Visions Of Ecstasy

The short Visions of Ecstasy holds the distinction of being the only work ever banned for blasphemy by the British Board of Film Classification. It intercuts imagined lesbian encounters between 16th‑century Spanish nun St. Teresa of Ávila and another nun with scenes of Teresa caressing a crucified Christ and fantasizing about kissing him.

Although the sexual content itself wasn’t graphic enough for a ban, the BBFC argued that the imagery was centered on the crucifixion figure, deeming it “contemptuous, reviling, insulting, scurrilous.” BBFC director James Ferman warned the film would inflame Christian sentiment, and Conservative MP Sir Graham Bright even called for the negatives to be destroyed.

Director Nigel Wingrove challenged the ban at the European Court of Human Rights in 1996. He lost, but the court ruled that blasphemy laws violated the European Convention on Human Rights. When the UK abolished blasphemy offenses in 2008, the BBFC released the film uncut with an 18 rating.

7 Hail Mary

Jean‑Luc Godard’s 1985 provocateur Hail Mary reimagined the Virgin Mary as a modern‑day teenager, while Joseph appeared as an older, sexually frustrated taxi driver. The film also featured erotic imagery of a miraculously pregnant Mary.

The Catholic response was swift and severe, especially in Italy. Pope John Paul II publicly condemned the movie, prompting Vatican Radio to broadcast prayers aimed at “repairing the insult to the Holiest Virgin Mary caused by the film.” Godard offered to halt distribution in Rome, but secular outlets mocked the papal stance, even splashing topless models over crucifixes.

In France, the Confederation of Catholic Family Relations and the Alliance Against Racism and for the Respect of the French and Christian Identity tried to force a ban, yet a Paris superior court judge refused. The film largely screened without incident, though a group of demonstrators broke into a Versailles theater to slice the reels, and at Cannes a shaving‑cream pie was tossed at Godard’s face.

Down under, Christian leader Fred Niles railed against the film’s availability, claiming that without prohibitions, filmmakers could portray Jesus as a criminal and Moses as a brothel keeper.

6 The Devils

Ken Russell’s The Devils adapts Aldous Huxley’s The Devils of Loudun and John Whiting’s play, which in turn dramatize the 1634 execution of French Catholic priest Urbain Grandier for witchcraft.

The film pits Grandier against a central government eager to raze Loudun, but the real spectacle centers on Sister Jeanne, a sexually charged nun who becomes possessed by the Devil. Her obsession with Grandier paints him as a sorcerer, drawing the ire of Cardinal Richelieu.

British activist Mary Whitehouse led folk‑guitar sing‑alongs outside cinemas showing the film, and the UK’s Obscene Publications Act forced substantial cuts. The notorious “rape of Christ” scene remained hidden until 2002. In the United States, the MPAA initially slapped an X rating on the censored version, prompting Warner Brothers to trim further to secure an R.

Italian authorities were equally alarmed. A planned press screening was scrapped over fears of police intervention and Vatican fury. L’Osservatore Romano condemned the work as a “perverted marriage of sex, violence, and blasphemy.” Critics echoed the condemnation: The Christian Science Monitor called it “an offensive mockery of Christianity,” while the Los Angeles Times labeled it “despicable and degenerate.”

Ironically, the uproar birthed the nunsploitation subgenre, with Italian filmmakers releasing even more blasphemous titles like Suor Omicidi (“Killer Nun”) and Le Scomunicate di San Valentino (“The Sinful Nuns of St. Valentine”). Defenders later argued that Russell’s film merely depicted blasphemy without committing it.

5 The Miracle

Released in Italy in 1948 as Il Miracolo, the story follows a simple peasant woman who believes she is the Virgin Mary. She is coaxed into drinking with a vagabond she perceives as St. Joseph; after being raped and losing memory of the assault, she declares she has experienced a miraculous conception.

Villagers ridicule her, parading her with a counterfeit halo before she ultimately seeks refuge in a church, where she undergoes a religious epiphany while giving birth.

The Vatican expressed grave objections, noting that the film presented a “serious religious issue,” yet it stopped short of an outright ban, acknowledging its artistic merit. In New York, City License Commissioner Edward McCaffrey deemed the film “personally and officially blasphemous” and prohibited its showing.

Distributor Joseph Burstyn challenged the ban in court, eventually winning when a judge ruled that McCaffrey needed State Board of Regents approval to censor films. Meanwhile, the Catholic Legion of Decency condemned the picture as a “blasphemous mockery of Christian religious truth,” prompting Cardinal Francis Spellman to order 400 New York parishes to read a sermon denouncing the film as a “despicable affront to every Christian” and a “vicious insult to Italian womanhood.”

Picketing erupted outside the Paris Theater, with the Catholic War Veterans accusing the film of reflecting “the writings of Moscow” and the American Legion claiming it ridiculed American principles. The New York Board of Regents eventually labeled the movie “sacrilegious” for linking the Immaculate Conception and Virgin Birth with “drunkenness, seduction, mockery, and lewdness,” but the Supreme Court later ruled that the term “sacrilegious” was too vague to justify censorship under the First Amendment.

4 The Council Of Love

Austria’s 1985 production Das Liebeskonzil (known in English as The Council Of Love) adapted Oskar Panizza’s 1894 anti‑Catholic satire set in the late 1400s. The play portrays God as an infirm elder, Mary as lascivious, and Jesus as a cretin due to the sacramental consumption of his flesh and blood.

In the narrative, a disillusioned Holy Family, fed up with the Borgia papacy’s excesses, asks Satan for a punishment; Satan suggests inventing syphilis. Panizza himself faced trial over the original play.

When the Otto‑Preminger‑Institut attempted to screen the film—combining footage from a Roman performance with reenactments of Panizza’s trial—the Innsbruck diocese petitioned prosecutors to charge the institute for “disparaging religious doctrines.” After a private judge screening, authorities seized the film, forcing would‑be viewers to endure a live reading of the script.

The case escalated to the European Court of Human Rights, which ultimately upheld the Austrian courts, stating the film constituted an “abusive attack on the Roman Catholic religion according to the conception of the Tyrolean public.”

3 Viridiana

Luis Buñuel’s 1961 masterpiece Viridiana sparked controversy not solely for its blasphemous undertones but for the provocative imagery it evoked. The plot follows a young nun, drugged and nearly raped by her uncle. After the uncle’s suicide, she distributes his estate with a dubious cousin, gradually losing her faith.

The film culminates in an implied ménage à trois involving the nun, her cousin, and the cousin’s lover. A memorable tableau shows beggars arranging themselves in a pose reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, only for the photographer to lift the nun’s skirt, flashing the assembled group.

The Vatican newspaper denounced the work as blasphemous, and Franco’s ultra‑Catholic regime in Spain banned it despite its Cannes Palme d’Or win. Buñuel recounted that Franco ordered all copies burned; he smuggled the negatives to Barcelona, concealed them under a bullfighter’s cape, and developed the film in Paris.

The film didn’t see a Spanish release until 1977. When asked about his intent, Buñuel clarified, “I didn’t deliberately set out to be blasphemous, but then Pope John XXIII is a better judge of such things than I am.”

2 The Last Temptation Of Christ

Nikos Kazantzakis’s novel The Last Temptation of Christ was condemned by the Catholic Church, and the author was excommunicated from the Greek Orthodox Church. In 1988, Martin Scorsese adapted the book, insisting the film was “not based on the Gospels but upon this fictional exploration of the eternal spiritual conflict.”

Scorsese’s vision portrayed Jesus wrestling with his dual humanity and divinity, even fathering children with Mary Magdalene in a Satan‑induced vision. Evangelical leaders, notably Jerry Falwell, blasted the movie, calling it “pure blasphemy” and demanding that Universal Studios be held accountable for “libel, slander, and ridicule” of Jesus Christ.

Reverend R.L. Hymers organized a Fundamentalist protest outside a synagogue he believed MGM’s head frequented, warning that the studio could “probably expect violence.” Mother Angelica, a prominent television nun, labeled the film “the most blasphemous ridicule of the Eucharist” and warned it could “destroy souls eternally.”

On the eve of its premiere, 25,000 protesters gathered before Universal’s Los Angeles studios, prompting several theater chains to cancel screenings. Blockbuster Video refused to stock the title, a policy that persisted until the chain’s dissolution. The 1990s saw renewed protests during TV broadcasts in Canada and Russia.

1 L’Age d’Or

After the surreal shock of Un Chien Andalou (1929), Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí were commissioned by aristocrats Marie‑Laure and Charles de Noailles to craft a follow‑up feature. The result, L’Age d’Or, was deliberately longer and more unsettling, aiming to provoke the middle class.

The film’s avant‑garde imagery skewered bourgeois morality and the rising fascist tide. Notable blasphemous moments include a scene where chanting bishops morph into skeletal figures and an implication that Jesus Christ and the Marquis de Sade are driven by the same force.

Both fascists and the Catholic Church reacted violently. A 1930 screening at Paris’s Studio 28 was disrupted by fascist thugs who beat patrons with blackjacks, assaulted surrealist paintings in the lobby, and forced the theater to shut down. The Noailles family faced threats of excommunication from the Pope and social ostracism from French high society. Paris police banned the film, and its negative was hidden behind seven seals for six decades, only to be smuggled into Britain.

Ironically, the surrealists had hoped for precisely this backlash. The controversy turned the film into a cause célèbre, prompting the surrealists to publish a four‑page spread documenting the damage to Studio 28 and questioning why police allowed such lawless behavior.

Witchcraft and magic have always hovered on the edge of mystery and danger. Throughout human history, anyone displaying uncanny abilities has either been celebrated as a holy figure or condemned as a demonic force. In this roundup of 10 famous people accused of witchcraft, we dig into the legends, the accusations, and the dramatic outcomes.

10 famous people Accused Of Witchcraft

10 Anne Boleyn

Few individuals have reshaped British history as dramatically as Anne Boleyn. When Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon failed to produce a male heir, the king convinced himself that divine forces had cursed him for wedlock with his brother’s widow.

Henry, already straying from his vows and siring illegitimate offspring, believed a new queen could finally grant him a prince. Anne Boleyn stepped into that role, urging Henry to sever ties with Rome and proclaim himself head of the Church of England. This bold move birthed Protestant England and saw the dissolution of monasteries.

Anne’s ascent seemed flawless—until she delivered a daughter followed by a stillborn son. Henry, once again feeling cursed, accused Anne of seducing him through “sortilege,” a term for sorcery and witchcraft.

Her adversaries quickly added fuel to the fire, alleging witch‑marks such as extra moles and even a sixth finger. Though never formally charged with witchcraft, the rumors tarnished her reputation and paved the way to her tragic execution by the sword.

9 Joan Of Arc

Joan of Arc accomplished extraordinary feats in a shockingly brief lifespan—so extraordinary that some found it unsettling.

Before turning nineteen, she swapped peasant garb for armor, rallying troops to lift the siege of Orléans. She claimed to hear voices from saints and archangels, guidance she said influenced kings and nobles.

To her English foes, she was an embodiment of evil. One chronicler described her as “a disciple and limb of the Fiend…that used false enchantment and sorcery.” Captured by the Burgundians and handed to the English, she faced heresy charges, with her supernatural claims twisted into proof of witchcraft.

The English painted her visions as demonic, her uncanny ability to recognize strangers as a gift from Satan, and her battlefield predictions as devilish foreknowledge. Convicted of heresy, she was imprisoned—a necessary step before execution, since only those condemned twice could be put to death. Her choice to wear men’s clothing while incarcerated sealed her fate, leading to a fiery death at the stake.

8 The Clintons

Something about Bill and Hillary Clinton seems to ignite witch‑madness among detractors. A multi‑part website series alleges the couple’s ties to dark forces: Bill allegedly wielded Haitian voodoo to secure his election, while Hillary was branded the Whore of Babylon, and together they supposedly performed bizarre rituals for nefarious ends.

One might assume such claims belong to the fringe, yet at the 2016 Republican convention, a participant shouted that Hillary was an Illuminati member and a witch. A photo of her playfully trying on a pointed witch’s hat was seized as “proof” of satanic affiliation.

Another sartorial slip involved a bird‑shaped brooch, interpreted by some as symbolizing allegiance to the New World Order or loyalty to the Antichrist. When Hillary spoke of “conversations” with historical figures like Mahatma Gandhi, she meant internal dialogues, but some literal‑minded voices took it as actual spirit communication, further fueling witchcraft accusations.

7 Backwards Masked Music

Backmasking is a recording technique that embeds a hidden message only audible when a track is played in reverse. While often used for playful Easter eggs—Weird Al famously slipped in a tongue‑in‑cheek line—some listeners have spent endless hours hunting for satanic whispers.

One claim asserted that Styx’s song “Snowblind” contained the reversed mantra “Satan moves through our voices.” Though Styx dismissed the allegation as absurd, the controversy grew so intense that Arkansas passed legislation requiring records with backmasking to be clearly labeled for buyers.

Fans hunting for demonic content in Soundgarden’s “665” and “667” were disappointed; the hidden track turned out to be a whimsical backmasked tribute to Santa, not a diabolical chant.

6 The British Royal Family

Beyond modern reptilian conspiracy theories, an older legend links the British monarchy to demons and witches. The Counts of Anjou, a powerful French noble house, were famed for their battlefield prowess, prompting whispers about the source of their uncanny success and fiery tempers.

Rumor had it that an early Count of Anjou wed a mysterious woman who habitually avoided church. One day, when forced to attend the consecration of the Host, she dramatically tore away her cloak, levitated, and vanished through a window—an act that cemented her reputation as a demonic figure.

Their union birthed the Plantagenet line. Richard I, known as the Lionheart, allegedly joked, “We come from the Devil, and we’ll end by going to the Devil!” Whether a drop of demon blood still courses through the veins of today’s Windsors remains a tantalizing mystery.

5 Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II, canonized as a saint, is celebrated for his role in toppling Communism and for his spiritual leadership. Yet his legacy is not without controversy; some point to the Church’s sex scandals of his later years and even label him the Antichrist.

During his 1988 address to the European Parliament, outspoken Protestant Ian Paisley interrupted, declaring, “I refuse you as Christ’s enemy and Antichrist with all your false doctrine.” While Paisley’s outburst was largely symbolic, certain observers have scoured John Paul II’s life for occult signs, from the solar eclipse coinciding with his birth to alleged mystical elements surrounding his funeral rites.

These interpretations, however fringe, illustrate how powerful figures can become canvases for witchcraft narratives, especially when their actions intersect with moments of intense societal change.

4 Christine O’Donnell

It’s rare for a politician to launch a campaign with the proclamation, “I’m not a witch.” Yet that’s exactly what Virginia’s 2010 Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell did after a 1999 appearance on Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect.”

During the interview, she admitted, “I dabbled into witchcraft—I never joined a coven… I hung around people who were doing these things… One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn’t know it… We went to a movie and then had a little midnight picnic on a satanic altar.”

Maher later apologized for turning her remarks into a joke, but the damage lingered. In today’s hyper‑polarized climate, it seems a politician can weather many scandals—except an on‑air confession of witchcraft.

3 Stevie Nicks

Since the 1970s, Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks has been linked to witchcraft lore. Her hit “Rhiannon,” inspired by a Welsh witch‑goddess, sparked endless speculation about her true nature.

The song’s lyrics—“Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night… Takes to the sky like a bird in flight”—were interpreted by some as a witch soaring on a broom. Nicks herself explained that she encountered the name “Rhiannon” in an airport book and spun a tale of a free‑spirited woman, but fans latched onto her flowing black gowns as visual proof of witchcraft.

After years of denial, Nicks embraced the mystique in 2014, appearing as a fictionalized white witch on “American Horror Story,” solidifying her place in pop‑culture’s witch canon.

2 Pope Sylvester II

A little knowledge can be dangerous, but too much can earn you witchcraft accusations. Legend holds that Pope Sylvester II was not only a brilliant scholar but also a supernatural prodigy.

Stories claim he bargained his soul to the Devil for hidden wisdom, earning the moniker “the best necromancer in France, whose demons obeyed his every command day and night.” His most famed magical artifact was a “brazen head” that answered any yes‑or‑no question with perfect accuracy.

According to lore, Sylvester journeyed to Muslim‑controlled Spain to study, stealing a tome of magical spells from a philosopher and learning to sell his soul for power. In reality, his advanced education likely sparked suspicion among contemporaries wary of non‑Christian scholarship.

1 Beyonce

Climbing to the summit of the music world demands talent, luck, and—some claim—a dash of witchcraft. In 2018, former drummer Kimberly Thompson sued Beyoncé, alleging “extreme witchcraft” that included sexual molestation spells and a cursed kitten.

Thompson’s filing sought a restraining order, asserting that Beyoncé’s alleged sorcery caused job loss, home theft, the murder of her pet kitten, enchanted lovers, and broken relationships. She even claimed Beyoncé could inhabit others’ bodies to spy on her sexual activities.

The court denied the restraining order, either because no one appeared to press the case or because Beyoncé’s alleged magical influence prevailed.

When societies crumble under drought, disease, or religious strife, scapegoats often emerge. In most historic witch hunts, women—especially the elderly, poor, or socially ostracized—bore the brunt of suspicion. While men occasionally faced accusations, the overwhelming majority of the condemned were female. Yet nothing short of a scandal could land a woman before a judge. How did seemingly ordinary circumstances become damning evidence? Below are ten truly outrageous reasons that sent women to the gallows.

10 Being Too Sick to Get Out of Bed and Go to Church

In modern times, staying home when ill is a civic duty; in 17th‑century Massachusetts, the Puritans demanded relentless church attendance. Sarah Osburn, a 49‑year‑old Salem resident, had already sparked controversy by marrying a much younger indentured servant and claiming her late husband’s estate, contrary to his will. When the afflicted girls Abigail Williams and Betty Parris alleged that Osburn had attacked them, her past scandals offered little defense. Moreover, villagers noted she had missed church services for three years.

Osburn, bedridden by chronic illness, told magistrates that a “lying spirit” had urged her to avoid church. She insisted she defied the spirit and kept attending until her health failed. The officials remained unconvinced, imprisoning her pending trial. The filthy, rat‑infested Salem jail proved fatal for the frail woman; after nine weeks she died before any verdict could be rendered.

9 Featuring in Someone’s Nightmare

The final and deadliest wave of Scottish witch trials erupted in 1661 in Lothian. Beatrix Leslie, an elderly midwife from Dalkeith, was a prime target—her argumentative nature and use of folk remedies made her suspect. After two girls she cared for died, the couple she had served claimed they suffered terrifying nightmares in which Leslie attacked and devoured them.

Thirty years later, when Salem’s courts debated the admissibility of spectral evidence, Scottish precedent was cited. Victims often described a specter—a phantom version of the accused or an animal they had become—tormenting them in dreams. Leslie’s alleged nightmare victims provided sufficient cause for witch‑finder John Kindcaid to examine her. He pricked her for the devil’s mark and forced her to touch the corpses of the girls, claiming the bodies bled at her touch. Under duress, Leslie confessed to meeting the devil twice and agreeing to serve him, and was executed in September 1661.

8 Having a Cat Named Satan

In 1566 Chelmsford, England, a seemingly trivial pet name sealed a woman’s fate. Elizabeth Francis, an elderly pauper with a tarnished reputation, faced three trials for witchcraft. She confessed that her grandmother had given her a cat that spoke, demanding drops of her blood. The cat allegedly helped her poison livestock, humans, and even provided instructions for an abortion after a lover impregnated her.

When the lover fell ill and died after Francis used the potion, the cat was blamed for the murder. Although a clerical error reduced her sentence to a year in prison instead of death, her sister Agnes Waterhouse was not so fortunate. Waterhouse, tried alongside Francis, was accused of gifting the cat—named Satan—to her sister, thereby inheriting its magical abilities. She faced charges of killing her husband and spreading sickness. While Waterhouse denied using the cat for murder, she admitted instructing Satan to maim neighbors’ barn animals. Her 18‑year‑old daughter Joan testified against her, claiming she had heard her mother invoke the devil through the cat and had tried, unsuccessfully, to exorcise the animal. This testimony secured Waterhouse’s place in history as England’s first woman executed for witchcraft.

7 Healing a Sick Child

Anna Goldi, often cited as Europe’s last person executed for witchcraft, endured a life of hardship. Born into poverty, she was twice impregnated by men who never married her, and lost one infant. Accused of killing the child, she endured public humiliation in the pillory. In 1780, she entered the service of Johann Tschudi, a wealthy physician in Glarus, Switzerland.

When Tschudi’s children began finding pins in their food, Goldi was dismissed on suspicion of harming them. Within a week, his young daughter fell violently ill—Tschudi later claimed the child was vomiting pins. Goldi was summoned back to prove her innocence, as local custom dictated that only the one who caused a child’s illness could heal it. Under threat of torture, she tended the girl, and the child’s health miraculously improved. Ironically, this recovery convinced Tschudi that Goldi had indeed poisoned the child initially. She was arrested, tortured, and eventually confessed to a pact with the devil to harm the girl as revenge for previous mistreatment. Goldi was beheaded in 1782. Rumors suggested a secret affair between Goldi and Tschudi, and the physician allegedly fabricated charges to protect his reputation.

6 Being Identified as a Witch by a Child

Children, with their belief in fairies and Santa, were often enlisted as witnesses in witch trials. While the Salem girls are the most famous, many other cases relied on youthful testimony. In 1670s Sweden, a single witch panic resulted in several hundred executions. Seventy‑one of these took place in the parish of Torsaker, each victim identified by children.

The hunt, spanning 1674‑75, was orchestrated by Laurentius Hornaeus, a ruthless priest who instructed two young boys to linger outside church services and point out witches entering the congregation. He taught them that witches bore a distinctive mark on their foreheads, visible only to children. The boys complied, leading to numerous arrests. Hornaeus employed threats and torture to extract further accusations, with children claiming witches kidnapped them for devilish rites. The ensuing mass trial culminated in the execution of one‑fifth of the parish’s female population.

5 Being in an Abusive Marriage

Bridget Bishop of Salem was notorious for her fiery disputes—not only with neighbors but also with her own husband, Thomas Oliver, her second of three spouses. Oliver was widely regarded as abusive, and Bishop frequently retaliated. Their public quarrels attracted attention, and after a heated argument on a Sabbath day, both were ordered to either pay a hefty fine or stand in the pillory for a day.

Oliver’s adult daughter covered his fine, while Bishop endured the pillory, publicly branding her reputation. When Oliver later fell ill and died, Bishop inherited his estate, leaving his children from a previous marriage destitute. Suspecting sorcery, the step‑children accused Bishop of bewitching Oliver to claim his wealth. Although she was initially found not guilty, the accusation tarnished her standing, leading to her conviction and execution as the first victim of the Salem trials.

4 Losing a Loved One to a Natural Disaster

On Christmas Eve 1617, a violent storm devastated the Norwegian fishing village of Vardo, drowning all the men who were out at sea. The surviving women, left to care for their families, faced suspicion from authorities already wary of the remote community. The harsh climate, with endless mist and snow, fueled rumors that the nearby mountains concealed an entrance to hell.

The area, inhabited by the Indigenous Sami—non‑Christian folk who practiced magic—was quickly targeted. Scottish naval captain John Cunningham was appointed Governor of Finnmark, establishing his base at Vardohus to launch a witch hunt. Under interrogation and torture, resident Mari Jogensdatter confessed that she and other women had summoned the storm as revenge for personal disputes. Several women corroborated her story, claiming they had attended a witches’ sabbath, drank wine, and consorted with the devil. They identified wealthy neighbor Kirsti Sorensdatter as the coven leader.

Both Sorensdatter and Jogensdatter were burned at the stake, igniting Norway’s first major witch hunt. Eventually, ninety more women from Vardo were executed, and the village endured two subsequent hunts that claimed hundreds of lives.

3 Having Argumentative Male Relatives

Rebecca Nurse, a 71‑year‑old respected Salem resident, seemed an unlikely target. Both she and her husband were esteemed community members. However, their move from Salem Towne to Salem Village placed them in a land‑ownership dispute with the affluent Putnam family. Thomas Putnam and his brothers claimed rights to land that Rebecca’s brother Jacob Towne was receiving.

When Putnam’s daughter Ann claimed affliction by a witch, Putnam leveraged the accusation to target the Towne family. Nurse was among those accused. Though the initial trial found her not guilty, the afflicted girls’ hysteria forced the jury to reconsider, ultimately convicting her and sentencing her to death. Several other women from prominent families, including Nurse’s sister Mary, were also executed.

2 Having Veins in Your Eye

Margaret Aitken, dubbed the Great Witch of Balwearie, turned the witch‑hunt on its head. Arrested for witchcraft in 1597, she confessed and claimed she could identify any witch by examining the pattern of veins in a person’s eye. This method promised a quicker alternative to the traditional search for the devil’s mark, which required full‑body inspection and painful pricking.

James VI enthusiastically backed her, organizing a national tour where Aitken examined suspected witches across Scotland. Those she labeled as witches were arrested and tortured into confession. Historians speculate she fabricated this ability to buy time or avoid execution, using the authorities’ desperation to her advantage. After months of sending hundreds of women to their deaths, Aitken’s fraud was exposed, and she was executed.

1 Having a Parent Who Was a Witch—Even if You Were a Child

The final Vardo witch trials of 1661‑62 hinged on accusations against children of previously executed witches. Sisters Ingeborg (12) and Karen Iversdatter (8) were detained at Vardohus in December 1662, their mother having been burned months earlier. Alongside them, twelve‑year‑old Maren Olsdotter, who had lost both her mother and aunt to witch trials, was held in the infamous “witches’ hole.”

Desperate for release, the girls gave vivid confessions: they claimed they could transform into cats, attend a witches’ sabbath, and drink wine with Satan. Maren even described touring hell with an evil spirit. Though too young for execution, their testimonies implicated numerous adult women, leading to further trials and burnings.

When two accused witches presented witnesses asserting the girls had been threatened with torture, the children were labeled liars. Maren, who had offered the most fantastical accounts, was sent to a workhouse, while the other girls were freed.

These ten bizarre allegations illustrate how everyday actions, personal misfortunes, and even innocent childhood fantasies could be twisted into damning evidence, sealing the fates of countless women throughout history.